Attorney General Acknowledges Concerns Over Criminal Records Expungement Process

The Attorney General Attorney Sylvestre has conceded to criticisms made by the Association of Defence Attorneys (ADA) over the recent Criminal Records Act. The law allows for people who were convicted of either a COVID-19-related offence or drug possession of small amounts of marijuana as a first offence, to have these offences automatically removed from their records. Additionally, first offences for other convictions such as wounding can be expunged following a review by the Criminal Expungement Board. Last week, President of the ADA Dickie Bradley, welcomed the legislation but, said that the three-page application form was too long and unnecessarily complicated. Attorney General Sylvestre says that the criticism is fair and that he has agreed to meet with the senior attorney to discuss the concerns. 

Anthony Sylvestre, Attorney General of Belize: “That is a valid criticism. It’s a valid criticism. I’ve reviewed it. So with these legislations, they’re usually modeled off previous legislation in other countries. And so that is something that that attorney and I we’ve spoken about and certainly, again unfortunately, we’re at this stage where that much can be taken but if we have the privilege and honor I’m sure that will be addressed in the next administration.”
At the last sitting of the House of Representatives, Prime Minister John Briceno said that hundreds of Belizeans have already had their records cleared